girl eats, lives to tell the tales.

Main menu

Post navigation

Cleanliness, finally.

I cleaned my apartment last night. Not just the type of cursory cleaning I do on a somewhat weekly basis when it’s too cold/I’m too tired/this bad TV show is too addictive/I don’t wanna vacuum, dust, or move; a real, deep cleaning that involved removing and scrubbing the stove drip trays and vacuuming the couch cushions. I’d put it off for many weeks months. Okay, maybe only a month or two. In my lame defense, I did go to New York for a week, and impending vacations can be a fantastic distraction from necessary chores.

I almost didn’t do it, too. I didn’t want to go to the gym last night, which is unusual for me, so I had to justify it. I wasn’t feeling like cleaning at first, but once I get going… it’s hard to stop me. I started cleaning at 8, right after a delicious dinner of roasted chicken and asparagus and a spinach salad, and wasn’t done until after 11. I’m actually still not done. I need to clean the shower and wash my sheets and towels, take my suitcase down to the storage unit, and move all the boxes from the things I ordered on Amazon last month to the recycling. I was tired, though, especially after vacuuming the couch – that’s hard work. FYI. Don’t even think about vacuuming your couch unless you have the time and energy to devote to doing it right. It was totally worth it, though. My couch looks beautiful and as clean as the day I got it.

Anyway, it’s amazing how much better I feel when my living space is clean and tidy. It makes me feel organized and clean and ready to take on any challenge, or at least organize any challenge into manageable sections. I’ve heard – maybe just from my mother, but she’s as citable as any source – that when you clean, you’re also organizing your thoughts. My thoughts seem tidier today than they were yesterday. I feel more focused.

The little two and a half day juice fast helped me to put my relationship with food into perspective again – it really did function as a “reset” this time. And my jeans fit a little better than they did before I left for New York, so that’s a plus. I may do it again tomorrow, especially since I’m having drinks with some friends tonight (and Googling low-calorie cocktails today… vodka and Sprite Zero, anyone?).